Histochemical studies on intestinal metaplasia adjacent to gastric cardia adenocarcinoma in subjects at high-incidence area in Henan, north China

AIM: To characterize the histochemical type and pattern of intestinal metaplasia (IM) adjacent to gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and distal gastric cancer (GC) in Linzhou, Henan Province, China.METHODS: Alcian-blue-periodic acid Schiff and high iron diamine-Alcian blue histochemical methods were performed on 142 cases of IM, including 49 cases of GCA and 93 cases of GC. All the patients were from Linzhou, Henan Province, China, the highest incidence area for both GCA and squamous cell carcinoma. Radio- or chemotherapy was not applied to these patients before surgery.RESULTS: The detection rate of IM in tissues adjacent to GCA tissues was 44.9%, which was significantly lower than that in GC tissues (80.64%, P<0.01). The rates of both incomplete small intestinal and colonic IM types identified by histochemistry in GCA tissues (31.82% and 63.64%, respectively) were significantly higher than those in GC (5.33% and 21.33%, respectively, P<0.01).CONCLUSION: IM in GCA and GC should be considered as a separate entity. Further research is needed to evaluate whether neoplastic progression of IM is related to its mucin profile in GCA.

Micromotions and combined damages at the dental implant/bone interface

Micromotion and fretting damages at the dental implant/bone interface are neglected for the limitation of check methods, but it is particularly important for the initial success of osseointegration and the life time of dental implant. This review article describes the scientific documentation of micromotion and fretting damages on the dental implant/bone interface. The fretting amplitude is less than 30 l^m in vitroand the damage in the interface is acceptable. While in vivo, the micromotion＇s effect is the combination of damage in tissue level and the real biological reaction.

Prediction of proton-induced SEE error rates for the VATA160 ASIC

We predict proton single event effect(SEE)error rates for the VATA160 ASIC chip on the Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE) to evaluate its radiation tolerance.Lacking proton test facilities,we built a Monte Carlo simulation tool named PRESTAGE to calculate the proton SEE cross-sections.PRESTAGE is based on the particle transport toolkit Geant4.It adopts a location-dependent strategy to derive the SEE sensitivity of the device from heavy-ion test data,which have been measured at the HI-13 tandem accelerator of the China Institute of Atomic Energy and the heavy-ion research facility in Lanzhou.The AP-8,SOLPRO,and August 1972 worst-case models are used to predict the average and peak proton fluxes on the DAMPE orbit.Calculation results show that the averaged proton SEE error rate for the VATA160 chip is approximately 2.17×10^(-5)/device/day.Worst-case error rates for the Van Allen belts and solar energetic particle events are 1-3 orders of magnitude higher than the averaged error rate.

Discharge characteristic of very high frequency capacitively coupled argon plasma

The discharge characteristics of capacitively coupled argon plasmas driven by very high frequency discharge are studied.The mean electron temperature and electron density are calculated by using the Ar spectral lines at different values of power(20 W-70 W)and four different frequencies(13.56 MHz,40.68 MHz,94.92 MHz,and 100 MHz).The mean electron temperature decreases with the increase of power at a fixed frequency.The mean electron temperature varies non-linearly with frequency increasing at constant power.At 40.68 MHz,the mean electron temperature is the largest.The electron density increases with the increase of power at a fixed frequency.In the cases of driving frequencies of 94.92 MHz and 100 MHz,the obtained electron temperatures are almost the same,so are the electron densities.Particle-in-cell/Monte-Carlo collision(PIC/MCC)method developed within the Vsim 8.0 simulation package is used to simulate the electron density,the potential distribution,and the electron energy probability function(EEPF)under the experimental condition.The sheath width increases with the power increasing.The EEPF of 13.56 MHz and 40.68 MHz are both bi-Maxwellian with a large population of low-energy electrons.The EEPF of 94.92 MHz and 100 MHz are almost the same and both are nearly Maxwellian.

Characterization and functional analysis of hsp18.3 gene in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum

Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) are diverse and mainly function as molecular chaperones to protect organisms and cells from various stresses. In this study, hsp 18.3, one Tribolium castaneum species-specific shsp、has been identified. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction illustrated that Tchsp 18.3 is expressed in all developmental stages, and is highly expressed at early pupal and late adult stages, while it is highly expressed in ovary and fat body at the adult period. Moreover, it was up-regulated 4532 ± 396-fold in response to enhanced heat stress but not to cold stress;meanwhile the lifespan of adults in ds-Tchsp 18.3 group reduced by 15.8% from control group under starvation. Laval RNA interference (RNAi) of Tchsp 18.3 caused 86.1%±4.5% arrested pupal eclosion and revealed that Tchsp 18.3 played an important role in insect development. In addition, parental RNAi of Tchsp 18.3 reduced the oviposition amount by 94.7%. These results suggest that Tchsp 18.3 is not only essential for the resistance to heat and starvation stress, but also is critical for normal development and reproduction in T. castaneum.

Encapsulating manganese oxide nanoparticles within conducting polypyrrole via in situ redox reaction and oxidative polymerization for long-life lithium-ion batteries

Manganese oxides(MnO_(x)) have been extensively investigated due to their extremely high theoretical capacities for application as conversion anodes in lithiumion batteries. However, fully performing their theoretical performance still faces poor electric conductivity and serious volume change upon lithium insertion/extraction.Herein, we demonstrate encapsulating manganese oxide nanoparticles within a conducting polymer polypyrrole(PPy) shell as a facile strategy to overcome such flaws through in situ redox reaction and oxidative polymerization process. Such an in situ method combines the redox reaction between potassium permanganate and tetrahydrofuran to form MnO_(x)nanoparticles and the subsequent oxidative polymerization of pyrrole to form a conductive polypyrrole coating shell by the oxidant KMnO_(4) into one step. For the as-fabricated products(MnO_(x)@PPy), this tenderly introduced conductive PPy shell highly favors the fast electron transfer and preserves the electrode structure integrity upon repeated cycling. As the anode for LIBs, MnO_(x)@PPy exhibits superior lithium storage performance with a high reversible capacity(1538 mAh·g^(-1)), long-life cyclability(747 mAh·g^(-1) after 1000 cycles at 1.0 C) and durable ratability(574 mAh·g^(-1) at 2.0 C). This work demonstrates that the convenient in situ strategy to form conductive polymer coating shell is effective to improve the performance of conversion anodes and can be extended to other materials for energy storage applications.

A pair of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein monoclonal antibodies shows high specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis

Dear Editor,Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Type 2(SARS-CoV-2) is the pathogen of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), which has spread worldwide.SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus belongs to the family of β-coronavirus(Xu et al., 2020). Its genome is a linear single-stranded positive-sense RNA about 30,000 nucleotides packed inside a virion with a diameter of 100 nm and a volume of about 10^(6)nm^(3)(Bar-On et al., 2020).